Category: Triathlon

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Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

Back on the road

This past week I ended the week with over 9 hours of training. I think that is the most I have done since sometime before Ironman Lake Placid last year. Most of that time was spent on the bike or in the pool.

Swimming

I had a good week in the pool. Monday morning was awful, but Wednesday I managed to get a couple of thousand yards in and then Friday was a very good workout. Mike K. showed up in the morning and that kind of motivated me to keep up. Ended that morning with 4400 yards and was pulling 4×200 @ around a 2:40 clip. We did them on a little under a minutes rest. From now on Monday and Friday the goal is to get in at least 4000 yards.

Biking

Tuesday morning wasn’t very good. It had been warm the day before and the garage was warm and I started getting way too warm. I barely was able to finish the 4th of my 6 intervals and called it a day. That afternoon I ordered up a fan with a remote to try and help keep cool on the trainer. Cranked up the fan on Thursday morning and had no problem completing the 2×20 minute intervals.

This weekend was the first outdoor ride for the season for me. Well, the first outdoor ride in the Northeast anyway. It felt good to get outside. Still a little chilly at the start, but I had plenty of gear on. It will be nice when I can start the ride without all the gear. I managed to average around 18.4 for the ride. Felt very comfortable and never really pushed that hard, heart rate stayed between 140 and 150 while leading. The only time it ever popped over 160 was for a short sprint up a hill. I know the spot is one of the segments on Strava.com where everyone compares themselves to others. I’m ranked 16 of 78 at the moment.

Running

Only one run this past week. I need to get out at least twice this week and make one of them a long one. I’m thinking of making my Wednesday run a long one.

Weight: 157

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

Daylight savings….

Where is the savings? Just as it was starting to get a little bit light in the mornings when I run daylight savings comes along and takes it away. I don’t mind running before the sun comes up, but when you start way before the sun comes up it’s still dark when you get back! I wasn’t a big fan of Springing ahead this weekend as you can tell and I really felt it this morning in the pool.

Swimming

The last couple of swim workouts have been just ok. Haven’t had much speed. I think the problem Friday was that I was still sore from my shoulder and back routine from the previous day. This morning though it was all about daylight savings! I got to the pool and wanted to take a nap. Lucky it was a short workout, I extended it out to about 3800 yards just by swimming easy at the end. Hoping this Friday is better.

Biking

Had some very good workouts on the bike this week. The 6 x 6 minute intervals on Tuesday were very tough, but made it through them. Sunday I rode the Timberman course again on the CompuTrainer and shaved another couple of minutes off. I have it down to about 2 hours 50 minutes. My legs are starting to get used to the longer rides again, which is good, I wanted to get them ready before actually heading out on the open roads.

Running

The run was pretty much non existent last week. Did a measily 5 miles on Wednesday, I will have to pick up the pace a bit if I’m going to get in 60 miles this month.

Weight: 159

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

Back from Vacation

This is the first full week back from vacation. No blog entry for last week since we were away in Florida.

It was nice to be out running without having to use hand warmers. The first run was kind of tough because it was so much warmer than I was used to. The humidity was the big factor really. The 9 mile run on the first day wasn’t bad, managed to hold a 7:30 pace. The second run was better though and I managed to get it down to 7:15. There was a little more wind, but that doesn’t seem to be a big of a factor as the heat.

The swimming in the outdoor pool was great. The water temperature is perfect for swimming long. I hit the pool twice and basically did 500s. 500 swim, 500 pull, 500 kick and just repeated until I had about 3500 yards in each day. I wish I had tinted goggles for the swim though, the clear ones made it tough to see with the sun out.

I brought my Garmin for my bike so I would know where I was going and how far I was biking. The bike I used was a 1980s Peugot. I think I might have mentioned this last year. Nice bike, but I missed my biking shoes, you can really tell the difference when you bike with just plan old pedals. I also missed being able to shift from the handle bars instead of the down tube. Not mention there was no indexed shifting so you kind of have to hunt for the gear you are looking for. It was nice to get outside and ride though, much nicer than yesterdays 3 hours in the garage on the CompuTrainer!

The good news about vacation was that I didn’t gain any weight.

Weight: 158lbs

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

New Watts tough to hold

This week was the first week back on the CompuTrainer after taking the CP30 test last Saturday. Tuesday was not a good morning. I couldn’t even hold the new 108% of CP30 for the first 6 minute interval. I don’t know if it was because my legs were tired from the test or what, but it was just too much. Thursday was better and I was able to hold the 2 x 20 interval and the prescribed watts. So, this week I’m going to try for 104% of my current CP30 and do the test again.

In the pool I’ve had a couple of good workouts. On Friday at the Beverly Y I was able to do 10 x 100 on 1:25. That’s the first time I was able to do that. Now I have to do it again to prove it wasn’t a fluke! This morning when I hit the pool I did 5 x 100s on 1:30 and followed that up with 5 x 100 at 1:14/1:18/1:18/1:19/1:19 on 2:00. I felt pretty good about that, but I would really like them all under 1:15. That will be tough at the Danvers pool where I seem to be slower.

This was a good week on the weight front. I was able to hold under 160 for most of the week and this morning weight in at 157.5

Weight 157.5

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming Triathlon

CP30 Watts up but Weight loss slows

It’s been a tough week on the weight loss front. It doesn’t help having ice cream cake, birthday parties with cake and ice cream and not too mention the junk food around when friends come over. I’m going to have to get a little bit more focused in the next couple of weeks to get down to my goal.

Swimming

I had a good swim session this morning, well, at least I thought it was good. I managed to go under 1:20 on the 100s again. I did have more rest for each one, but it was good to know that I can actually swim that fast. I need to start pushing myself more like that. The first 200s were tough though. We were supposed to do them descending, but I’m pretty sure my second was slower than the first.

Cycling

I had a good day on the CompuTrainer Saturday morning when doing my Critical Power test for 30 minutes. I was able to hold 257 Watts for 30 minutes. I started out around 250 and actually built up to 257 by the end of the 30 minutes. I don’t like to start too hard and then fade. The bad news is that my Tuesday workouts are going to be insanely hard. The 6 minute intervals will now be at 278, that is going to be pretty tough to hold for 6 minutes, 6 times! That’s a 108% of my CP30 score.

Running

I managed to get in two days of running this week. Wednesday morning was outside and I felt pretty good on the 7 mile run. Comfortably held a 7:30 pace doing negative splits. Last mile came in just under 7 minutes. Then on Sunday it was so cold I headed indoors and jumped on the Treadmill. Ran for an hour and made sure to do negative splits there as well.

Weight: 159.5

Categories
Cycling Running Swimming

The training update

After being sick the previous week, this past week has been much better.

At the Pool

Starting to do more kicking at the pool. Last Friday I managed to go over 4000 yards for the first time this year. In large part that was due to a lot of kicking at the end. Fred said we were going to do 5 x 100s. That is probably the most consecutive kicking I have ever done. It took everything I had just to keep from getting lapped. I’m going to have to ask for tips on some of the kicking drills rather than just using the kick board all the time. The dolphin kick looks pretty cool.

On the road

This past week Heidi finally showed up to run on Wednesday morning. It’s good when she shows up because she pushes me, at least early on in the run. She tends to start at a much faster pace than I normally would. I usually go out just a little over 8 minute miles and then bring it down. I think we did our first mile at 7:45 and went down from there. For the 7 miles I felt pretty good holding the 7:25 average.

On the trainer

Last week was the final week of the 4 week build. The Tuesday and Thursday rides were pretty tough. Sometimes I wonder if it is harder mentally or physically. The 6×6 minutes on Tuesday are definitely a physical challenge as I’m at 108% of FTP. The Thursday 2 x 20 minutes are just a mental grind.

The weight is still coming off, but more slowly. Partly because I’ve been eating a little more and we hit the Texas Roadhouse for my sons birthday. The “Peanut Place” is his favorite place. It’s one of mine too, but I know I’m going to gain a few pounds just from the salt content.

Weight: 160

Categories
Triathlon

You don’t want that!

As I mentioned last week, I’ve been trying to lose weight for the upcoming season. Unfortunately things got a little bit out of control this past week when I got the stomach bug that my son managed to pick up from school. That’s a quick way to drop some serious pounds quick. Last Monday I posted that I weighed in at 162, this week the weight loss continued and I was 161. However, the last couple of days I was as low as 158. Clearly a large part of that was just being “empty” from being so sick, but also a bit dehydrated too. They always say to drink plenty of fluids, but that is easier said than done. Now that the stomach is feeling better hopefully I can continue the slower weight loss descent.

Fins

I bought some fins last week to try out in the pool and finally got to use them this morning. I was actually able to keep up when we did the kick sets today. Usually I do about half the distance everyone else is doing. Looking forward to using them more and building up my kicking strength. I should be able to hit the pool 3 times this week since the Prep will not be at the Y Wednesday morning.

CompuTrainer

I did have a few good rides on the CompuTrainer, but after being sick it was a tough weekend. I attempted to do Thursdays session on Saturday morning. That was ok and I made it through, but my heart rate was way higher than normal, topping out around 170-172. Usually for that ride it is 160-162. That left me pretty much wasted for the Sunday long ride, where I managed to eek out a mere 1 hour and 50 minutes. I’m hoping tomorrow will be a better morning. It is the last week of this 4 week build up and the hardest of the sessions I will have to do.

Also need to start picking up the running now. Great Bay half is 2 months away and I’m barely running 10 miles a week, if that!

Weight: 161

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Cycling Technology

Something new on the CompuTrainer

This week my friend Mike decided we need to try out the Team Time Trial at Breakaway Computraining. He put a team of four together and we went over to check it out. They have a very nice facility with eight CompuTrainers setup facing two very large screens. Each team sets up on one side of the room or the other. The course that was selected is one that the local TriFury triathlon club uses outside, a little over 13 miles. One of the cool things was that you can actually draft off of your teammates. That is a skill that I have to work on, I either seemed to be too close or too far back. The winner is determined by the 3rd rider over the finish line. That encourages you to really work as a team.

I thought it was a lot of fun and definitely want to try it again. It is definitely a challenge to figure out how to ride with a group on the CompuTrainers. Looking back on it now I know I wasn’t working hard enough when I was leading. I felt like I could have done the entire ride at the Watts I was holding while leading. For me that means I needed to be working probably another 20% harder. I also wasn’t always in the best draft position, but the few times I got there I can see that it would be easy to recover and then take the lead and ride hard again. Especially with working with four riders. I heard the first groups say they were going to switch every 15 seconds. I think that would be way to fast for me until I had a few more rides under my belt. I’d prefer to pull hard for 2 or 3 minutes at a time and then rest for 6 to 9 drafting the other 3 riders. Then repeat. Do that four times, race is over.

If you have never done it, I highly recommend checking it out. Definitely a lot of fun!

The rest of the week

The rest of the week was pretty standard. Saw some good progress in my swimming and managed to get under 1:20 for some 100s on Monday. Didn’t manage that again the rest of the week, but at least there is hope.  I definitely need to work on my kicking and ordered some fins.

The CompuTrainer rides are getting harder as each week I keep building for another two weeks. I feel like my legs are definitely getting strong and I’m glad I included some weight lifting in the program this year.

Running hasn’t been much fun, it has been cold, windy and slushy. Not exactly my kind of running weather. I managed to get out for a 10K yesterday afternoon after riding for 2 hours on the trainer. Doing those bricks is definitely something I want to do more of this season.

The weight loss continues. Weighed in at 162 lbs this morning!

Categories
Triathlon

Happy New Year!

Well, it is time to start lining up he races and goals for this years triathlon season. A couple of the races are ones that I have done this past year. Some of them are completely new and I’m really looking forward to them.

Events

4-7-2012  – Great Bay Half-Marathon

6-16-2012 – Patriot Half-Ironman

7-14-2012 – Nubble Light Challenge

7-22-2012 – Volunteer at Ironman Lake Placid

8-18-2012 – Boston Light Swim (relay)

9-9-2012 – Call To Honor Triathlon

Goals

For this year I have set a pretty high bar for my half-ironman race. I would like to go under the 5 hour mark. Last year my half-marathon run was terrible and I feel I should be able to take at least 15 minutes off of that. The hard part will be getting the other 10 minutes out of the swim and bike. I feel like my biking should be stronger this year for two reasons. The first is I’m continuing to improve on the CompuTrainer through the winter. The second is that last year there was no tapering before the race because I was training for Ironman, so I should have fresher legs. I would also like to take a couple minutes off of my swim time and have started to really concentrate on my form to get under 30 minutes for the swim.

The other goal is to hold a 7:30 pace for the half-marathon. I’ve been pretty close a couple of times, but I think if I concentrate on more speed work and maybe a few track workouts thrown in I can get there.

The last goal is to finally get my weight down. I wasn’t able to manage that last year for Ironman and have renewed my effort to weigh in at 155 lbs for these races. That will be an 11 lb drop. I will see how I feel at 160 and evaluate that goal again at that time. So, at this time I weight 166.25 lbs. and I’ll be updating my weight on here as I did last year. I thought that would have motivated me to lose, but it didn’t. I think what will motivate me this year is the need to be lighter to reach my race goals.

Categories
Running

IT Band healing

Well, I went out for a run yesterday and for the second time I have had no pain while running. I haven’t been running as much, just 5 miles a week, but I have been on the bike 4 times a week. I have also been doing a lot of stretching and using the Foam Roller.

Yesterday I did the same 5 mile loop that I had done the previous Wednesday and was about 1 minute faster overall. For the last 3 miles I was able to hold right around 7 minute mile pace. I think I will go another week and see how it is and then add another day of running.